To receive Permanency Care Assistance for a child, a prospective permanent managing conservator must meet all the following eligibility criteria:

• Become verified as a foster parent (see information below for relative or fictive kin requirements).
• Serve as the child’s foster parent for at least six consecutive months before becoming the child’s permanent managing conservator.
• Enter into an agreement for PCA before the court grants permanent managing conservatorship of the child.
• Become the permanent managing conservator of an eligible child after the agreement for PCA is signed.

Note: A permanent managing conservator cannot receive PCA if the agreement for assistance is not in place before permanent managing conservatorship of the child is transferred to the relative or fictive kin. It is extremely important that the caseworker inform the caseworker’s supervisor of any court order that could affect the transfer of conservatorship and result in preventing the caregiver from participating in PCA. The caseworker also must alert the Conservatorship program director in such instances, and, if necessary, staff with the kinship specialist at State Office to discuss whether an appeal is warranted.

For a relative or fictive kin to qualify as the child’s verified foster parent, all the following conditions must be met:

• DFPS placed the child with a caregiver who meets the specific definition of relative or fictive kin for the purpose of PCA. For more information, see the Services to Kinship Caregivers Resource GuidePDF Document, under Definitions..
• DFPS recognized the relative or fictive kin as the child’s verified foster parent.
• The relative or fictive kin served as the child’s verified foster parent for the required six consecutive months.
• The relative’s or fictive kin’s signed authorization agreement to serve as the child’s verified foster parent remained in effect for the required time frame.
• The child remained in DFPS conservatorship throughout the six months.
• The child’s placement in the home was continuous for six months. Placement is considered continuous when the child lives in the home the entire time, with the exception of short absences that do not exceed 14 days. If a temporary absence exceeds 14 days, the count of the child’s total time in the placement must start over.

It is acceptable for the six months to have occurred in the past, and for the relative or fictive kin to have stopped serving as the child’s foster parent after that time.

Ineligible People

The following people are not eligible to become permanent managing conservators and receive PCA:

• A person who shared joint managing conservatorship of a child with one or both of the child’s parents prior to the child coming into DFPS conservatorship.
• The child’s parent or other person from whom the child was removed.

DFPS Rules, 40 TAC §700.1029External Link

Applying for Assistance

The prospective permanent managing conservator must apply for PCA and provide all necessary supporting documentation. See 6685 Applying for Permanency Care Assistance.